.375 cal North American hunting.

regulate34 said:
So if I go with a premium bullet on lighter North American game I would need to keep the velocity up?

Cup and core like the 300g sierras are going to open faster and at slower velocitys. ?
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Basically that's the way it works. Look for impact velocities above 2,000fps for mono metals and 1,800fps for most bonded bullets.
 
jaycee said:
2750 fps seems a little slow for a 250, even with a 20" barrel? What load are you using? I'm getting 2700 fps with a 270 gr TSX and 81.5-82 gr of Ramshot Big Game.
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I'm loading 83.5gr of H4350 behind a 250gr TTSX. I haven't had a chance to run this through my chrono yet but 2750fps is my educated guesstimation. I based this on chronoed results I got from Bartell and Gatehouse who loaded the same bullet with 83gr and 84gr respectively with velocities on both sides of 2750fps.
 
bcsteve said:
I'm loading 83.5gr of H4350 behind a 250gr TTSX. I haven't had a chance to run this through my chrono yet but 2750fps is my educated guesstimation. I based this on chronoed results I got from Bartell and Gatehouse who loaded the same bullet with 83gr and 84gr respectively with velocities on both sides of 2750fps.
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Personally, for the sake of 40-50 fps (my 81.5 and 82.0 gr loads chrono an average of 2696 and 2711 fps corrected 15' from the muzzle) I think I'll stick with the extra 20 grains of bullet weight.
 
The 300 grain Sierra's the OP mentioned are a very good overall .375 bullet, and hold together fine even with the biggest of .375 cases pushing them along. They also have a very high BC and have been very accurate in the three .375 rifles I have tried them in. I got a great deal on a mixed bag of .375 bullets about three years ago, so I'm shooting all sorts of things in my .375 RUM nowadays, but I'll likely go back to the 300 grain Sierra's in the future.
 
Might want to try the 260 Nosler Accubond, my boy has killed over a dozen animals with it in his 375 Ruger ranging from steenbok, to eland, moose and bison. He was very pleased with it's performance right out to 400+ mtrs. I use a 270 TSX in my H&H and have killed everything from duiker to lion to hippo with it and the results have been boringly predictable..........I have never had to track a single animal taken with this load, and I have shot dozens of animals with it.
 
I remember reading that Boddington liked them for Cape Buffalo so they can't be that bad. Edit: c-fbmi got his post in before I did, I was referring to the Sierra 300gr.
 
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I did some minimal testing with the 260g accubonds. Hanging in around the 2" group mark.
I stopped playing with them because of hearing stories that got them called accuBOMBS.
Not sure if this is the case in the 375cal stuff.
 
Superfudd had a 260gr go bomb. On the other hand I drive one lengthwise through a big bear and ended up with a magazine photo recovered bullet, perfect.

My shot was about 15 feet away so the bullet was still going about 2750fps
 
Interesting Gatehouse. 260g seams like a good middle weight bullet.

I also shot a black bear at 5yrds with the 300g sierras. Threw shoulder and out the ribs. Clean pass threw. nice 1" exit hole no blood shot.

I really thought that bullet was going to explode.
 
c-fbmi said:
Might want to try the 260 Nosler Accubond, my boy has killed over a dozen animals with it in his 375 Ruger ranging from steenbok, to eland, moose and bison. He was very pleased with it's performance right out to 400+ mtrs. I use a 270 TSX in my H&H and have killed everything from duiker to lion to hippo with it and the results have been boringly predictable..........I have never had to track a single animal taken with this load, and I have shot dozens of animals with it.
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If I had to specify a favourite all around .375 bullet, it's likely the 270 TSX. Works on everything as you point out. I end up loading conventional 300grs just so it regulates out of the double and serves dual purpose.
 
Im using 250 gmx in my ultra mag seem to be working very well. Went full length on a moose last year blew threw the back leg a lung and the front leg. Two broken legs and 1" hole in a lung dropped him in his tracks never have recovered a bullet yet.
 
c-fbmi said:
Might want to try the 260 Nosler Accubond, my boy has killed over a dozen animals with it in his 375 Ruger ranging from steenbok, to eland, moose and bison. He was very pleased with it's performance right out to 400+ mtrs. I use a 270 TSX in my H&H and have killed everything from duiker to lion to hippo with it and the results have been boringly predictable..........I have never had to track a single animal taken with this load, and I have shot dozens of animals with it.
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c-fbmi - has your son found weight retention is good with the 260 AB's?

I've seen pics of these bullets fired from the a .338-375 (forget the real wildfcat name right now...) and even at those fairly slow velocities, the bullets were badly mangled and had lost a fair bit of weight. I kind of wrote them off for higher velocity .375's at that time...
 
NM999, he has quite a collection of recovered ones and retained weight varies with range, of course, but it has yet failed to kill everything. Real close up, retained weight is usually quite low but they do not come unglued and do give lots of penetration and kill very well. What I like to see and actually consider more important is that they open up nicely at 400 mtrs and kill just as well out there. It's hard to argue with his successes, even though I don't like light for caliber bullets.
 
c-fbmi, thanks for the info.

I agree with generally liking heavier bullets, but also strongly agree that the job of every bullet is to kill what it's shot at, period.

It sounds like I may have to try some of thoese AB's one of these days!
 
Northman999, these two 260 ABs were recovered from 2 different elk. Both were recovered up against bone on the offside. One from 220 yds. the other from 340 yds. Fired from a 375R at a fairly sedate 2600ish fps. so a far cry from a RUM at point blank. The only other one I can comment on was through ribs and boiler room at 300+ and not recovered. I have some TSXs to mix up and try but have no negative comments re: the AB retention or accuracy out of a M77 Hawkeye.
 
You can expect the high level of performance that you describe with premium bullets. They perform much better and deliver solid results. I have taken whitetail and black bear with the 260gr Noslers as well as a host of African game with 235gr TSX. Recoil is slower and less sharp with the heavier bullets.
 
I agree with the OP's choice of 375 cal for everything while I play with many different rifle/cartridge combo's my favourite cal is 375".

In a previous thread asking what 3 cartridges I choose for hunting I posted

14" & 21" barreled T/C Contender carbines in 375JDJ I load 235gr bonded Claw in the 14" and 260gr Accubonds @ 2300fps in the 21".

22" barreled T/C Prohunter in 375H&H load 250gr TTSX @ 2620fps (exactly my goal velocity)

21" barreled Rem 700 LSS in 375RUM load 260gr Accubonds @ 3020fps and 350gr TSX @ 2450fps

I've shot deer - black bears - grizzly - moose with these combo's and have never recovered a bullet yet.
 
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